Rents in S.F. Increased 8 Percent in 2021, Still Depressed

The weighted average asking rent for an apartment in San Francisco effectively held at $3,325 in December, which is roughly 8 percent higher than at the beginning of the year but still 19 percent ($775) lower than prior to the pandemic and nearly 26 percent below its 2015-era peak, with the average asking rent for a one-bedroom in the city holding at $2,800 a month (which is 5 percent higher than at the beginning of the year but 20 percent lower than prior to the pandemic having hit).

While a moderation in rents is to be expected at the end of the year, based on typical seasonality, a typical slowdown should mute expectations for a full-blown rebound and rapid rise in rents, as we noted at the beginning of the month.

But the number of units listed for rent in San Francisco has dropped 60 percent over the past year and is within 10 percent of pre-pandemic levels, according to our analysis of over 100,000 listings going back to 2004 that we maintain, normalize and index on a monthly basis. We’ll keep you posted and plugged-in.